How to Remove Reflective Tape from a School Bus

School buses are covered in a pesky yellow reflective tape that seems to be attached with glue engineered by NASA. We tried several different methods to remove it, including scrapers, razor blades, acetone, and a 3M brand Stripe-Off Wheel. Ultimately, nothing was working pretty well, so I picked up a cheap heat gun ($17) from a home improvement store, which is what I was avoiding doing in the first place. It was actually cheaper than the 3M wheel, and worked about 100 times better.

The method is to just heat up the tape, being careful not to stop in one spot for too long, and scrape up the edge. Then you can just grab it and pull off while running the heat gun down the length. The heat gun melts the glue underneath and makes the tape soft and pliable, so it doesn’t just chip off.

A sticky residue is left behind, which we removed by spraying with Goo Gone Pro-Power. Let it sit for a few minutes and then scrape off. We had to do it twice and then rub the remaining off Goo Gone Pro-Power. Let it sit for a few minutes and then scrape off. We had to do it twice and then rub the remaining off.

When we first started talking about life in a converted school bus I thought there was no way we could fit a family of 5 in a bus. We have so much stuff! Even in a small 3 bedroom, 1 bath apartment with no real storage, we've managed to accumulate a lot of stuff.